Thoughts on social, political, educational and business issues; Descriptions of my businesses and hobbies; My tentative plans for retirement; Notes on getting together and keeping in touch with my high school and college classmates and our reunions; Also Notes on my Family Research. I think I'll toss in a little humor on occasion, too. I welcome ideas for future discussions.

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09 July 2013

GOOD POLICE, BAD COPS

Keep in mind that I'm a white man, an Engineer, a businessman and present a reasonable appearance. I can only imagine what it's like for dark-skinned or otherwise 'different' people who are zeroed in on by the cops.

This post is a result of my extreme anger at all the dogs being shot dead by cops all over the country because the dogs barked at them or approached them to check them out, as dogs will do with strangers; and this includes dogs in their own yards and a thirteen year old Cocker Spaniel and dogs in their own homes, often during police raids at the wrong addresses. Much of my Facebook page is dedicated to the abuse and welfare of animals, domestic or wild, and I read accounts, every day, about cops unnecessarily shooting dogs who were running away or being friendly, barking a warning to leave their territory and other "dangerous, aggressive" behaviors.I was going to write a post about the need for us all to have our city and county police to be properly trained to use non-lethal methods to restrain or, better yet, avoid the same dogs that postmen manage to pass, every day, without having to shoot them. The majority of these cops are clearly at fault and it's often recorded on home or smart phone videos as such, but their superiors always claim that their boys acted on protocol. Too often, these Barney Fifes are let off with no punishment or charges of animal abuse, which is what they are guilty of doing.

Instead, after posting this, I'm going to post an article by a freelance writer, with her permission, that does justice to the issue and is well written and covers everything I wanted to say. It'll be entitled

Over the years, if I've seen a lone cop or one who somehow seemed "lost," I often asked if he/she required assistance. I was reminded of this, yesterday, when I saw a police car off in a field with its bubble gum lights on and no cop in sight. I didn't stop at the time, but, on my way back by there some fifteen minutes later, the lights had been turned off and I asked the fellow collecting donations for the homeless if he knew about the cop. As it turned out, the cop had been talking to the collector fellow at some point and was okay. It was a crappy intersection to try to make a U-turn to get to that field, but I was planning to do so should his lights still be on and I hadn't been assured by the donation collector that the cop was all right.

Whether we are armed or not, it's a moral duty for all of us to query people if we think they might need help and that includes anyone in uniform. I stop in the middle of traffic or pull off the road, depending, to help accident victims and even animals, wild or domestic, that are injured. i do what I can until the EMTs, animal control or police arrive.

[My now oldest cat was in the middle of one of our busiest roads, a five-week old kittten at the time, and I nearly ran over her, myself, thinking she was a sock, until she moved. I suspect someone dumped her there to get rid of her. Fortunately, there was no traffic very close behind me and she sat waiting for me; didn't run off. I tossed her in my truck and she's almost a constant companion, now, about five years old, greets me whenever I come home and often cuddles next to me.]

This does not change my opinion about the bully cops I've run into over the years, or the ones who are too trigger happy to be given guns and badges, or the ones who shoot dogs and unarmed people instead of being properly trained and quick thinking enough to use non-lethal methods, of course. Those Barney Fifes shouldn't even be given the one bullet for their shirt pockets, much less a fully loaded automatic weapon.

Many of these should be re-evaluated for their positions and, if deemed necessary, given anger management or other psychological evaluations to determine if they, in fact, should even be on the police force, much less carrying lethal weapons. It's the responsibility of our city officials and their police chiefs to weed out what I still refer to as Bully Cops, but are quite possibly downright dangerous cops.

On some occasions, when I, myself, needed police assistance, I was given exactly that and usually with friendliness or at least respect for a citizen. I'd like to think the majority of them are honest and respectful and knowledgable of the law, but I know there are many who don't know the law as well as they think they do, ignore it or make it up as they go, and that's why we, as citizens, should know our own state laws should we be accosted for no apparent reason. Carry a copy of some appropriate statutes with you, if you think it necessary . I know of one expert concealed carry lawyer who always carried that particular statute with him in case he had to educate a cop about it.

One may still end up in jail, but very likely be released soon after they discover their error and they may even apologize for the inconvenience.

[There was recently written a wonderful article, which I'll also try to post here, which has some wonderful suggestions for dealing with cops and staying out of jail or soon getting out because of a false arrest.]

About Me

Graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology in 1973. Prior to that, I attended North Miami High School and graduated in 1969.

I am a past Conservation Chairman for Broward County Audubon Society and a present member in good standing of American Mensa.

I have worked for Rockwell Int'l in Richardson, TX, and for the Air Force in GA and presently own a small air cleaner company, Pure Air Systems, Inc., in South Florida. As a sideline, I repair old/antique furniture, primarily reweaving rush, cane, wicker and Danish cord seats.

In recent years, I have taken up working with leather, making various items for fun. It was suggested to me that I should offer these things for sale, so I set up an Etsy.com account in order to do just that. Should the viewer be interested, my "shop" is entitled ArnoldsLeatherGoods; one word.

I have spent a great deal of time in tracking down old classmates/schoolmates from kindergarten days to college and have reunited a fair number of old friends with each other. I have instigated our FIT reunions for those of us who graduated with BSEEs in '73. Our first reunion was a rousing success. I decided to invite EEs of all degrees from the two years prior to '73 and two years after '73 to join us in 2013. I was unable to locate many of the schoolmates from those other four years and the 2013 reunion was rather sparsely attended. The next one will be in 2018 in Melbourne during the school's Homecoming week . I have four more years to track these fellows down and I hope our next attempt will be more successful.

I am also on my high school reunion committee, trying to track down missing alumni and determine which ones may have died; when, where and how, if possible.

I have had some chronic pain problems in the last several years, but still keep my hand in on conservation and especially animal (wildlife and domestic) welfare issues.